EWTN, a Catholic website, says regarding Χαῖρε κεχαριτωμένη:
chaire kecharitomene (Greek word translated as: “Hail, full of grace.” )
“chaire” – Means “hail” or “rejoice”
“charis” – The root word of ke-chari-to-mene, means “grace”
“charitoo” – Greek verb ending in omicron omega (“oo”) means to put the person or thing into the state indicated by the root. The root being “charis” or “grace,” “charitoo” means “to put into a state of “grace.”
“ke” – Greek perfect tense prefix indicates a perfected, completed present state as a result of past action. Thus, a perfected, completed present state of “charis,” or “grace,” as a result of past action.
“mene” – Greek passive participle suffix indicates action performed on subject by another. Thus, a perfected, completed present state of “charis,” or “grace,” as a result of the past action of another. As the speaker is the angel Gabriel, the “other” is God.
Therefore, “chaire kecharitomene” means: “Hail, who has been perfectly and completely graced by God.” The common Catholic rendering, “full of grace,” while good, may actually fall short!
The first English translations by Wycliffe (1380 & 1395) read this way:
“And the angel entridide to hir, and saide, Heile, ful of grace; the Lord be with thee; blessed be thou among wymmyn.”
The Tyndale Bible (1534) read like this:
“And ye angell went into her and sayde: Hayle full of grace ye Lorde is with ye: blessed arte thou amonge women.”
What does this “grace” entail
Here’s a Protestant commentary on Kekeritomene
“Highly favored” renders kecharitomene (from charitoo, GK 5923), which has the same root as the words for “greeting” (chairo, mGK 5897), and “favor” (charis, GK 5921; v.30). Mary is “highly favored” because she is the recipient of God’s grace. A similar combination of words occurs in Ephesians 1:6–”his glorious grace, which he has freely given [same Greek word as for “highly favored”] us.” Some suggest that Luke implies a certain grace has been found in Mary’s character. While this could be so, the parallel in Ephesians (the only other occurrence of the verb charitoo in the NT) shows that the grace in view here is that which is given to all believers apart from any merit of their own. Mary has “found favor with God” (v.30); she is a recipient of his grace (v.28), and she can therefore say, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (v.47). “The Lord is with you” recalls the way the angel of the Lord addressed Gideon to assure him of God’s help in the assignment he was about to receive (Jdg 6:12…
(John J. Kilgallen, “The Conception of Jesus [Luke 1:35],” Bib 78 [1997]” 232). (Walter L. Leifeld & David W. Pao, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Luke-Acts [Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI 2007], Volume 10)
The KJV translates Strong’s G5487 χαρίτω (Kerito) as: Lk 1:28 – Be highy favoured (x1), Eph 1:6 – He favoured/accepted (x1)
Eph 1:4-6 – ἐχαρίτωσεν (ekeritosen – favoured) – The favour that God has favoured us with is the very favour that results in us eventually being holy and blameless. The word does mean and imply and entail that if God has favoured you its for the express purpose of making you holy and blameless. What Gods favour will eventually accomplish in our lives was already granted to Mary in advanced by virtue of being given that 1 favour that no one else would be given, carrying God in her blessed womb.
Κεχαριτωμένη – Passive (being done to the subject) Perfect Participle = This action was done to Mary but its an action that was done to her in the past. It didnt start when the angel announced it. Angel, ”Hail, κεχαριτωμένη, you who have been favoured highly (full of grace) – What im about to tell you doesnt start now. This favour, which God bestowed on you, was given to you in the past which I am now revealing. The favour that was granted to you in the past is two fold:
1)being chosen to be the carrier of the Son of God but included in that favour is
2)God making you pure so that you will an untainted vessel worthy to carry God.”
In Luke 1:28, what God did for Mary (χαρίτω (Kerito – favoured) He will eventually do for the rest of us (Eph 1:6 which in context this favour is to become holy and blameless) when Christ decends, but He did it for her in advanced because she was blessed with the honour of carrying God in the womb.
Here is Catholic Answers:
Many Protestants will insist that this text is little more than a common greeting of the archangel Gabriel to Mary. “What does this have to do with Mary being without sin?” Yet, the truth is, according to Mary herself, this was no common greeting. The text reveals Mary to have been “greatly troubled at the saying and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be” (Luke 1:29). What was it about this greeting that was so uncommon for Mary to react this way? We can consider at least two key aspects.First, according to biblical scholars (as well as Pope John Paul II), the angel did more than simply greet Mary. The angel actually communicated a new name or title to her (see Redemptoris Mater 8,9). In Greek, the greeting was kaire, kekaritomene, or “hail, full of grace.” Generally speaking, when one greeted another with kaire, a name or title would be found in the immediate context. “Hail, king of the Jews” in John 19:3 and “Claudias Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greeting” (Acts 23:26) are two biblical examples of this.The fact that the angel replaces Mary’s name in the greeting with “full of grace” was anything but common. This would be analogous to me speaking to one of our tech guys at Catholic Answers and saying, “Hello, he who fixes computers.”In Hebrew culture, names and name changes tell us something permanent about the character and calling of the one named. Just recall the name changes of Abram to Abraham (from “father” to “father of the multitudes”) in Genesis 17:5, Saray to Sarah (“my princess” to “princess”) in Genesis 17:15, and Jacob to Israel (“supplanter” to “he who prevails with God”) in Genesis 32:28.In each case, the names reveal something permanent about the one named. Abraham and Sarah transition from being a “father” and “princess” of one family to being “father” and “princess” or “mother” of the entire people of God (see Rom. 4:1-18; Isa. 51:1-2). They become patriarch and matriarch of God’s people forever. Jacob/Israel becomes the patriarch whose name, “he who prevails with God,” continues forever in the Church, which is called “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16). The people of God will forever “prevail with God” in the image of the patriarch Jacob.What’s in a name? According to Scripture, quite a lot.St. Luke uses the perfect passive participle, kekaritomene, as his “name” for Mary. This word literally means “she who has been graced” in a completed sense. This verbal adjective, “graced,” is not just describing a simple past action. Greek has another tense for that. The perfect tense is used to indicate that an action has been completed in the past, resulting in a present state of being. “Full of grace” is Mary’s name. So what does it tell us about Mary? Well, the average Christian is not completed in grace and in a permanent sense (see Phil. 3:8-12). But according to the angel, Mary is. You and I sin, not because of grace, but because of a lack of grace, or a lack of our cooperation with grace, in our lives. This greeting of the angel is one clue into the unique character and calling of the Mother of God. Only Mary is given the name “full of grace,” and in the perfect tense, indicating that this permanent state of Mary was completed.